Michael McInerney

Last night I got to fulfill a near lifelong dream of seeing Love with Johnny Echols!

Love is on my personal Mount Rushmore of Rock, right next to The Beatles, Stones, and Beach Boys. Their 1967 album “Forever Changes” is my favorite album of all time. From Folk Rock to Baroque Pop, from Garage Rock to heavy Psychedelic Rock, Love could do it all!

I’ve often spoken about how Arthur Lee is one of my biggest inspirations as a singer, songwriter, and frontman, but Love would be nothing without Johnny Echols, Bryan MacLean, and all the other talented players that made the band what it was from its creation in 1965 until Arthur’s untimely death in 2006.

Johnny has been there since the beginning, playing blistering solos and beautiful leads all over the first three Love albums, including the aforementioned “Forever Changes”. He reunited with Arthur in the early 2000’s and along with Arthur’s 90s backing band Baby Lemonade, became the new lineup of Love. After Arthur‘s passing, Johnny and Baby Lemonade continued to tour, honoring the memory of Arthur, Bryan, and the work of all the Love members that came before.

This concert was tantamount to a religious experience! They played most of “Forever Changes”, choice cuts from the debut and “Da Capo”, “Forever Changes”-era rarities “Your Mind And We Belong Together” and “Wonder People (I Do Wonder)”, and one of my favorite songs “Always See Your Face” off of the post-OG lineup “Four Sail” (a great album that gets unfairly ignored because it came out after the greatest album of all time).

The band was absolutely cookin’! Johnny RIPPED on guitar, Mike Randall brought the 12 string jangle, and Rusty Squeezebox rocked the Arthur vocal and guitar parts. After the show, I got to meet Johnny and he was incredibly nice, even while I stood there starstruck and dumbfounded. The rest of the band was just as cool!

Needless to say, if Love comes a-knockin’ on a door near you, you better listen!

Last night, I got to assist my good friend in guitar teching for the incomparable Jim Peterik!

Best known for writing the hit songs “Eye Of The Tiger”, “Vehicle”, “Hold On Loosely”, “Heavy Metal”, and tons more (including the title track of the last Beach Boys album “That’s Why God Made The Radio”), Jim has been a constant inspiration and even a mentor to me in songwriting, so when I got the call to help out with his Guitar Madness show, I knew I couldn’t say no!

Just about every one of these instruments behind me is priceless. 50’s Strats, 50’s and 60’s Jazzmasters, 60’s Les Pauls and SGs, even a 1958 Gibson Flying V (headstock visible behind me) and an ultra rare Rickenbacker Light Show!

In layman’s terms, there’s probably about a million plus dollars worth of guitars behind me in this picture, and I got to play a few chords on every one (although I mostly just tuned them)!

It was an honor to work with Jim and the wonderful members of The Ides Of March. Glad I didn’t drop anything!